It’s been quite a year, not least because it was my first full year as managing director of Microsoft Research Cambridge. I have to say that it’s been great fun so far, getting to know the lab and the people here a lot better. Until this year, my understanding has been rather skewed toward certain quarters of the lab’s work, and it has been very interesting, not to say challenging, to try to get to know other areas a bit more closely.

Finally, we welcomed many new faces to Cambridge, including about 100 interns, post-docs, visiting researchers, and full time researchers. It was also a year in which we bid retirement best wishes to a visionary leader, my predecessor, Andrew Herbert.

Already, there is so much to look forward to next year and many interesting challenges that lie ahead, including our move to a new lab building, by the railway station in central Cambridge. Here’s to an even more spectacular 2012!